2. French MEP: “EU doors not shut for Catalonia”

Almost coinciding with the publication of the report, a rather rare endorsement to those who think Catalonia should –and would– stay within the Union came yesterday from the European People’s Party’s ranks: Maïté Sanchez-Schmid, from Nicholas Sarkozy’s UMP, told the Catalan News Agency that “Europe respects the peoples’ will, and will also respect what Catalans decide in the ballots”.

3. Scotland’s fascination with Catalonia

The Catalan daily Help Catalonia interviews Scottish and Gaelic-speaking journalist Ruairidh MacIlleathain, who analyses in a thorough article the similarities and differences between Scotland and Catalonia.

Help Catalonia – Many people in Scotland are fascinated by the vigour of the independence movement in Catalonia“Many people in Scotland (or Alba as we call it in my language) are fascinated by the vigour of the independence movement in Catalunya and, if we were called upon to lay a bet on which country might achieve independence first, we would be hard-put to know where to place our money. Putting a million people on the streets of Barcelona last year was a phenomenal achievement, and certainly not one that could be copied (even at a smaller scale) in Scotland.